Souped up, safe performer with a green tinge

I’ve never been quite convinced by quick Volvo sedans and, yes, there have been many through the years.

The company has been almost as determined to break out of its image for producing sensible, practical and safe family cars as it has been to produce sensible, practical and safe family cars. Which it does very well.

Now, with the S60, one of the best Volvos ever in this writer’s estimation, everything has been turned up to 11 to produce a version with the unlikely name of Polestar.

The handle comes from a Volvo-supported Swedish touring car team, making this a sort-of Scandinavian HSV hottie.

Except that, being Sweden and being Volvo, Polestar is a team with an environmental focus, preferring to race cars with a green tinge.

So what are the differences between the Polestar and the standard S60?

Start with the engine: it’s based on the familiar inline turbo six, as featured in the already quick T6 R-Design version. In the Polestar – is it just me, or is that a really crook name? – it puts out 242 kW and 480 Nm, both over a fairly broad span of the rev range.

That’s 18 kW and 40 Nm respectively more than the T6 R-Design, yet the Polestar has the same fuel and emission figures.

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The catch, as with all such equations, is that this holds true only if you drive it like the less powerful model, which defeats the purpose.

For the record, the figures are 10.2 lt/100 km and 243 g/km of CO2. Neither figure is remarkable.

The all-wheel drive works well – unobtrusive in normal motoring and grippy enough to inspire extra confidence on the limit.

That doesn’t make it particularly sporting though. You can never forget that it is a front-biassed system and that the engine is hanging somewhere way out there on the nose.

The normal tendency to understeer is well controlled by electronics, but the driving experience feels more clinical than engaging.

The steering is on the numb side and big wheels and stiff suspension mean a harsh ride. The brakes are OK, but not dramatic – read German – in their urgency.

Top speed is said to be limited to 250 kmh – we didn’t test that – but more important in Australia is its strong mid-range acceleration for overtaking, merging and, let’s be honest, smiling.

It will hit 100 kmh in 5.8 seconds (versus 6.1 for the T6 R-Design), with quite a rorty sound pumping through a special four exhaust set-up.

The transmission is a six-speed geartronic, which is an auto with an occasional inability to make up its mind. The sheer willingness of the engine largely overcomes this, though occasionally you can fall into dead spots if you don’t keep your revs up.

Gear changes can be made via the central shifter but there are no behind-the-wheel gear paddles.

Appearance wise, it’s squat and stable. The suspension has been lowered by 15 mm and stiffened. The all-up weight of the car is 1684 kilograms.

As well as those quad exhausts, there are big (19 inch) diamond cut black-and-chrome wheels.

A tiny lip spoiler decorates the trailing edge of the boot lid. Let’s hope it makes an aerodynamic difference, because it doesn’t add a lot visually. However, the overall understatedness – if that’s a word – is no bad thing in these eyes.

At $82,990, the Polestar carries a 10 grand premium over the R-Design, and $34,000 more than the base model S60.

Inside are fairly standard R-Design sports seats, though the claim is firmer side bolstering. They are trimmed with a mix of materials.

There are bright blue surrounds on the dials and a leather-clad steering wheel. The attractive aluminium highlights on the wheel are picked up on the doors, centre console and pedals.

As with other S60s, everything inside works well. Good to see active cruise control, an excellent rear camera and sat-nav all on the standard equipment list too.

Being a Volvo, a long list of safety equipment is included, both active (blind spot and lane departure warning, auto braking for pedestrians) and passive features – airbags aplenty and pyrotechnic seatbelts all round.

This car however beeped at me more than the last Volvo. And more than I was comfortable with.

A small blue plaque at the base of the company’s trademark “floating dash" verifies the Polestar build number, which is likely to be somewhere between 1 and 50.

The reality is that it’s a limited run image machine, largely to establish the Polestar name before applying it to engine tuning packs on lesser cars.

So if you want an “R-Design Polestar" version of the C30, V60 or even XC60 4WD drive, pay up and it shall be yours, “chipped" to change the turbo boost, throttle mapping, and other engine characteristics.

You can also have an S60 sedan, minus the cosmetic bits, but with the Polestar engine for just $75,490. The only giveaway will be a small (presumably optional) blue badge on the tail.

So back to the original proposition: am I convinced? For mine, it’s a different car rather than a better one, and a whole lot more expensive.

I’d happily take a lesser all-wheel-drive S60 and pocket the difference. Maybe it’s just me. According to the jungle drums, an even faster version will be coming along.